Alumni Spotlight : Nigel Sielegar

I’m the founder of New York based Corse Design Factory – a collaborative studio with interests in the multiple disciplines of design, Co-Founder of MORRA – a web and app development firm based in Indonesia, and an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts BFA program.

I worked in a large company designing user interface for cellphone and a small award winning design firm in Chicago doing graphics, websites, and brand identities. Having a steady 9-5 job for quite a long period of time made me feel like I was not growing as a designer, nor as a person. Deep in my heart, I knew design was more than what sits on my desk. That’s when I decided to pursue a higher education, which landed me at SVA MFA Design program nine years ago.

I came to this program with a mission in mind. I spent my 2 full years at SVA to experiment, and essentially, to fail as many times as I can. I tried anything and everything that caught my attention, things that I never got a chance to do in my previous jobs, such as, product design, prototyping, designing spaces, and huff … , writing a proper business plan.

SVA MFA Design gave me a full understanding that design is a well crafted methodology of thinking that are boundless by the constraint of space and medium. This program gave me the confidence to be adventurous in my work, and it’s proven to be fruitful throughout my career (at least our clients think so). With that said, my advice to the incoming students is to try everything and anything beyond your comfort zone. Being in this program gives you a license to explore every segments, nooks, and crannies of what design has to offer. Make good use of this opportunity, and all the incredible mentors around you.